Pittsfield School Building Committee OKs PHS Statement of Interest

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Pittsfield High, the city's oldest school, will be the subject of the next funding request to the Massachusetts School Building Authority.

During a special meeting on Monday, the School Building Needs Commission voted to move forward with a statement of interest. The City Council on Tuesday night unanimously approved submitting a PHS statement of interest.

Mayor Peter Marchetti said that if they don't get in the queue, they could be talking an eight-year wait rather than a four-year wait. The deadline for submission is April 17. 

"To underscore the discussion today, which would be one of many by multiple bodies, any action taken today by us is not a funding commitment, is not a project commitment. It's a concept commitment," Finance Director Matthew Kerwood said. 

Focus areas include the renovation and modernization of the heating system and the replacement or addition to obsolete buildings for educational offerings. 

The school was built in 1931 and is about 163,600 square feet. It was renovated in 1975 to add nearly 40,000 square feet, including the theater and gym, the Moynihan Field House. 

Vocational spaces have been added and upgraded over the years, and laboratories have been improved, along with periodic updates to building elements. Security systems were modernized, and a couple of years ago, the school's three inefficient, original-to-the-building boilers were replaced. 

"It's a 95-year-old school, and there are things that are going to come up with a 95-year-old school," Commissioner Brendan Sheran said while giving a presentation. 

The converted locomotive engine boilers were replaced, but he reported that the school has concrete foundation issues and old pipes throughout.

"So while we did do a great replacement here, and that's helping to alleviate heating issues within the school, there are other infrastructure needs to connect to that that may need to be addressed in the future," he said. 

The school's condition was rated "2" along with Conte and Morningside in MSBA's 2025 School Survey.  The district is currently deciding if Morningside Community School, with classrooms that have no walls, will reopen in the fall, and the city's other community school, Conte, is staged for a combined build with Crosby Elementary School. 

Needed replacement or repairs include: piping and vent systems, electrical and lighting systems, the roof, brick and concrete, parking, entrance security, energy efficiency, and more. 

This is what the school was found to be most eligible for.  If invited into the program in December, a draft schedule places construction between 2031 and 2033. 

It was emphasized that the authorization vote OKs the superintendent to submit a statement of interest in an effort to get into the process for the next PPS building project. 

"It's not a commitment to any final outcome. It's not an allocation of funding, and certainly not a decision that's going to result in work being done in the immediate future," Sheran said. 

"It's that first step, and there's a whole lot more to learn and learn and consider along the way." 

MSBA is a quasi-independent agency that partners with local districts to improve school facilities, distributing over $18 billion in reimbursements since 2004.  It has a dedicated revenue stream of one cent of the state's 6.25 percent sales tax. 

There is the potential for MSBA to cover up to 80 percent of reimbursable costs if a project is pursued, and Pittsfield's current rate is 78.9 percent.

A SOI is the first step in the MSBA program and allows PPS to detail deficiencies in the PHS facility and how they impact the delivery of education. 

The district submitted statements of interest for five schools since 2007, and only two have been accepted: Taconic High School in 2009 and the proposed Crosby/Conte elementary build in 2024. 

Sheran pointed to a 2010 visioning statement of the committee that said its highest priority is to create two high schools that consider the projected school population, and provide the premier secondary education to the students of Pittsfield and the region.

The first outlined phase was to rebuild Taconic with a focus on its vocational programs, which was completed in 2018 at $120 million, and the second is to renovate PHS to facilitate the programming needs of a liberal arts education, including the fine and performing arts. 

The PPS Facilities Master Plan draft timeline places the renovation of PHS between 2029 and 2036. 

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